Interview: Lawrence Taylor Talks "LT: The Life & Times"

“To see your life through the eyes of others, man, that’s a bitch.” That was the immediate reaction from Lawrence Taylor after seeing LT: The Life & Times, narrated by Jon Bon Jovi, which premieres tonight on SHOWTIME at 8 PM ET/PT, for the first time. Prior to Tuesday night's screening in New York, we spoke with Taylor, who seemed a little concerned about what he was about to witness later that night. However, after refusing request after request from filmmaker Pete Radovich, Jr, Taylor finally caved because as the Hall of Famer puts it, "I'm past the point of caring and worrying about other people's opinions," but at the same time, he believes "most people don't know me, what makes me cry and what scares me."

Within the first couple of minutes, we're immediately hit with what L.T. continually referred to as a "raw" assessment of his troubled past. In the opening scene, we witness the wedding rehearsal of Taylor's daughter, Tanisha, who doesn't want the former Giants linebacker to be the only man walking her down the aisle because he wasn't a father to her in the traditional sense. It sets the tone for everything Taylor expected after the filming of the documentary concluded. "I'm confident he [Radovich] isn't going to sugarcoat it, but tell the story, the way it is." As for Radovich, he wanted to make sure he didn't persuade the viewer's feelings towards Taylor in one way or another. Instead, he wanted to present all the facts and let you draw up your own conclusions on L.T.

Nowadays, Taylor admits, "I’m at a place in my life right now where I’m truly happy,” but to rehash these painful moments from the past would obviously be difficult for anyone. "There's a point where stuff has happened a long time ago that I didn't want to bring it back up and go through it again, but that's the good thing about it, I could talk about those moments when I wanted to," Taylor said. "But they ask you the same question with different ways for you to answer, so, sooner or later, everything gets out." And, one thing is for sure, everything gets out. Well, nearly everything. As you will find out, L.T. is willing to talk about anything, except one thing.

With commentary from former coaches, Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick, to former teammates like Phil Simms and Harry Carson to his family and friends, the documentary explores everything from the life of an extremely popular "L.T." living in New York during the 1980s to his bouts with drugs, his own coaches and journalists to his much improved life today as Lawrence Taylor. As his best friend Dino Kyriacou proclaims, “Did he cheat death? Did he? Yeah. Anybody else would do what he did? He’d be dead.”